1:10: President Obama returns from the United States Naval Academyto the White House

2:15: Signs a bill designating the Congressional Gold Medal commemorating the lives of the four young girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing of 1963

****

The Hill: President Obama will sign a bill Friday awarding the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously to the four girls killed in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing, the White House said Thursday.

The bombing at the church, which civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph David Abernathy used as a meeting place, by members of the Ku Klux Klan proved a pivotal turning point in the push for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“These children, unoffending, innocent, and beautiful were the victims of one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity,” said the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a eulogy for the four children–Addie Mae Collins, 14, Denise McNair, 11, Carole Robertson, 14, and Cynthia Wesley, 14. “They died nobly. They are the martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity.”

… the biggest test case was always going to be California …. well, the preliminary numbers are in – and they’re looking very good, with costs coming in below expectations. At this point, it looks as if this thing is indeed going to work.

….. the whole political calculus was supposed to be that Republicans in red states could point to the horrors of Obamacare and ride them to political victory. Instead, it looks as if we’re going to see blue-state residents reaping the benefits of a functional health care system, while red-state residents are denied many of those benefits, for what looks like no better reason than mean-spirited spite – because what’s going on is, indeed, mean-spirited spite.

Predictions that Obamacare will be a big political issue are probably right – but not in the way gleeful conservatives imagined.

CNN Money: Health insurers in California will charge an average of $304 a month for the cheapest silver-level plan in state-based exchanges next year, according to rates released Thursday by Covered California, which is implementing the Affordable Care Act there. But many residents will pay a lot less than that for coverage.

Rates will vary by region, age and level of coverage, and many lower-income Californias will qualify for federal subsidies that will greatly lower the premiums…..

…. Oregon and Washington recently posted their rates, as well. They were also lower than some had expected.

“Many people will see rates similar to what they’re paying now, or in some cases, lower – and with substantially better benefits,” the Washington Insurance Department wrote in a blog post. “We’re definitely not seeing the huge rate increases that some insurers had predicted.”

Matthew Yglesias: ObamaCare Rollout Is Going To Be Like a Train Getting You To Your Destination In A Timely Manner

…. over the next 18 months you’re going to read a lot of stories about problems with Affordable Care Act implementations and many of those stories are going to be accurate but fundamentally Affordable Care Act implementation is going to work out great and people are going to love it.

The latest evidence comes to us from California, America’s largest state and one of the states that’s tried the hardest to actually implement ObamaCare well. As Sarah Kliff explains, their exchanges are getting set up and it looks like premiums for “silver” and “bronze” plans are both going to be lower than was previously expected. Far from a “train wreck” in other words, the biggest single set of clients for the program is getting something like a nice smooth TGV ride…

Detroit Free Press: In an address remarkable for both its candor and its humility, President Barack Obama sought Thursday to limit the scope of his predecessor’s global war on terror, pivoting from a full-court campaign of military pre-emption to a new era of proportionality and political engagement.

Squarely confronting critics who have decried his administration’s unprecedented use of unmanned drone strikes and its continuing detention of suspected terrorists at Guantánamo, the president pledged to curtail both practices and called on federal lawmakers to facilitate the transition to a containment effort that relies less heavily on military force….

NYT Editorial: President Obama’s speech on Thursday was the most important statement on counterterrorism policy since the 2001 attacks, a momentous turning point in post-9/11 America. For the first time, a president stated clearly and unequivocally that the state of perpetual warfare that began nearly 12 years ago is unsustainable for a democracy and must come to an end in the not-too-distant future.

Business Insider: The automatic, across-the-board spending cuts that began on March 1 are hurting more than ever, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll.

The poll finds that nearly four in 10 Americans say the cuts of the sequester have had a negative effect on them personally, which is up substantially from just 25 percent two months ago.

Among that group, self-identified Republicans say they have been most affected. An astounding 46 percent of Republicans have felt the effects of the sequester, compared with just 32 percent of Democrats. Perhaps unsurprisingly, just 39 percent of Republicans support the cuts, compared with 54 percent who oppose them.

President Obama defied Republican critics on Thursday by nominating to a high-ranking State Department job an official involved in editing controversial talking points about the attack last year in Libya.

Mr. Obama sent the Senate his choice of Victoria Nuland, a former spokeswoman for the State Department, as assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs. Ms. Nuland had long been in line for the position, but some had questioned whether the nomination would go forward after drafts of the talking points became public…..

NYT: President Obama and Gov. Chris Christie, Republican of New Jersey, will reprise their pre-election tour of the coastal areas ravaged by Hurricane Sandy on Tuesday, a White House official said Friday morning.

“The president will speak about the importance of reigniting and expanding economic opportunity for middle-class families who were hard hit by the storm, and meet with businesses and homeowners who have benefited from the recovery efforts,” said the official….

“Among that group, self-identified Republicans say they have been most affected. An astounding 46 percent of Republicans have felt the effects of the sequester, compared with just 32 percent of Democrats. Perhaps unsurprisingly, just 39 percent of Republicans support the cuts, compared with 54 percent who oppose them.”

I knew this was coming. Yeah it hurts all the way around but red states are going to feel it a lot worse and this is just the beginning.

Would it be cruel of me to sat that they deserve it because some of these people are the ones who were crying out for cuts and now I am suppose to feel sorry for them. Forgive me but I don’t I think its time for some of these persons in these red states to wise up and start electing individuals that have the electorates best interest and not those of the banks and oil companies.

I think, Mellesia, that there’s a willful blindness among many people in red states. They don’t like what’s happening to them, they vaguely get that it’s the sequester, but they don’t attach it to their elected reps, nor do they see the connection between their votes and the consequences. I don’t know what it will take to wake them up, but I’m not sure even personal hardship is going to do it.

I’m hoping the fact that something positive like PBO and the FCC changing the face of rural America with broadband wakes some of them up. It’s going to benefit them immensely. Somehow I doubt it though.

I don’t think it would be cruel, Mellesia. I feel the same way. Sometimes people must be reminded about getting on bandwagons because of political party affiliation, but it seems some of them never learn. PBO and many of us spread the word that deep spending cuts in an economic downturn would hurt. When PBO spoke about it, republicans came out and claimed he was “overreacting” and using public safety workers as “pawns.” All he was telling, and showing, them were some of the Americans who would be affected by the sequester, but many rank and file republicans didn’t want to hear it. They were so sure he was lying and republicans were telling them the truth. Well, now they know firsthand that the very thing they asked for, no, screamed for, in this recession is kicking their economic butts. I posted this on my FB page because I live in GA, one of the reddest states. I informed my conservative FB “friends” that if they’re dissatisfied, don’t blame PBO, call their members of Congress.

Derbingle! A tidbit for you: Penumbral Eclipse of the Moon: May 25, 4 degrees 8 minutes in Sagittarius. 0:25am ET/9:25pm PT on 5/24 (tonight). This will be an extremely shallow penumbral eclipse. It will be visible from the Americas, western Africa, and southwestern Europe. It will be impossible to see everywhere else. With only 4% of the a moon’s diameter shadowed, it will be only very slightly dimmed. Source: Jim Maynard Celestial Guide. http://www.QuicksilverProductions.com Hope some get to see it!

I didn’t look at the link, but I do know the President does not need a salute to know he’s President. And he does not need to return a salute to know that he’s on an equal footing with that Marine, and makes the Marine feel that, too.

Fuck ABC, Jonathan Karl, and the horses they rode in on! Yeah, you heard me! 🙂

thanks Carol – had to be one of the fools – I stayed on an army base in Virginia 1978 – used to drive relatives car with officer’s insignia – the soldiers at the gate always saluted the car – relative told me you NEVER salute if not in uniform

I tell ya President Obama is one exceptional person, I am glad and thankful that he is the President. As for ABC who the hell are they to pass judgments when they sack Karl an issue an apology to the President then maybe I will pay attention to what they have to say